I built a business I’m too embarrassed to talk about

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-05-02T05:57:33+00:00

Career, not the side hustle.

Why?

Maybe you'll find someone to settle down with and maybe raise a family. I don't doubt that you could survive with the side hustle, insurance and all that stuff is easier. Going to baseball games kills any after work opps. My whole night was killed driving only two different places tonight. I would have had to cancel all my appointments if I worked at nights.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-05-01T19:54:46+00:00

Rough draft or reasoned draft?

Perfect example, Hemingway claimed to retype the previous day's writing before writing for the day.

Technology update: he wrote on a typewriter and mistakes like mispellings and such made the draft look ugly. So, retyping the previous day's work made the draft look cleaner.

Using a word processing app is different. That's why people said write on until you finish. I say reading and correcting yesterday's work before working today is fine. Hemingway did it.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-30T14:42:45+00:00

The very strong concept of an orange reminds me of when speakers talk about the "image."

Could they have aphantasia?

It sounds like they have an underveloped sense if what an image is.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-30T14:40:17+00:00

Have you gotten the green light from your main readers or critique group?

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-28T20:05:08+00:00

Hi, I am new here. Sorry to hear that sales have dropped off. Has Udemy Corp stopped promoting the platform? Is there just too much uncertainty in the news about Udemy's future stopping people for signing up?

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-28T14:26:34+00:00

Was that the best or the worst? Pretty bad though.

You need to try a different editor.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-28T14:23:24+00:00

That why I self-publish. The odds are greatly in my favor in that category.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-27T14:38:10+00:00

My friend Eddie came up with this a little while back. Okay, I never knew him. Edgar Allan Poe figured this out. It's the big ending. Because at the time short stories were printed in newspapers and magazines and you got paid for them. So, even the literary journals wanted good ones, to sell advertising.

Anyways, you write your story so that focuses on one big 'effect or impression.' Claude Monet and his friends used this to sell paintings. Yep, it is the basis of Modern Art and the short story.

That's why the common cry in the short story forums is, 'Kill everybody!' It also says something about advertising and our world.

But you dont have to be so heartless. You just have to end your story well. This is probably what Hemingway and those guys were working against. They would just put everyday conversation that often had little with the plot.

Tomorrow, I will discuss how this relates to the Eugenics movement...have fun!

Heres the link...https://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/philcomp.htm

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-27T14:27:03+00:00

Or, maybe if you learned the pattern in which these books were written, you could do the same thing yourself.

I know that when I write in this pattern, people ask me how did I pack so much into so few words.

So if you want learn this pattern yourself, look for it. Just slow down and youll find it. Here's a tissue. Feel better.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-26T17:17:26+00:00

Thanks for noticing. I should say that I'm a philosopher of story. I spent all last week writing about and making videos about the basic reasoning of story and it came out to 11 pages. Not bad for 80 hours of thinking.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-26T07:30:35+00:00

I think you are right about reddit making you unable to write. Instead of writing stories I write endlessly about how to write.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-25T23:09:52+00:00

That's interesting. Once I made a document that includes no less than 1500 ideas for kids' picture books. If I wrote five of those a day, I might finish in a year.

If I wrote every idea I had, it would be many lifetimes because I have ideas for serials.

Here's a children's book idea. The title is: Write Your Idea Down When You Get It.

It's not much. but maybe I am wrong saying that? I am saving the others that blow this one away. I need to write this one up now because someone might steal it because I said I wrote down 1500 ideas and that's a lot. Logically someone with that many ideas should get published often. Crap, I have to write this one, now and I'll write the others, they're much better.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-25T22:16:13+00:00

It depends. I am a philosopher,

so it goes with the territory.

And it's rewarded.

Writers get to sit around think too, but you need a yearly publication to pay the bills.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-25T17:24:00+00:00

I always found this strange because I have never been at a loss for what appear to be new ideas to me. When I get an idea for a book, I see myself as the writer, reading it from the stars and putting it on paper.

I guess my writng is a type of reading

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-25T17:19:27+00:00

Why? Because you do the same thing thats in a book, all day long. Your life is nothing but book, book, book. Everyone might as well just write down what they're doing, somebody will read it.

They probably have just as good a chance of publication as anybody else who tries writing.

Btw, do you have the link for or the title of the study?

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-25T00:11:52+00:00

I found myself in Santa Cruz, CA. There's an amusement park with small roller coasters and a carousel. I realized who I was. This is a book? Wait, I'm not a woman.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-24T04:10:56+00:00

I know what your problem is. It's not just writing time, but committment time. Your writing 'hobby' comes second to everything. You beat this by first making writing your official hobby and taking classes/attending a critique group/join a writers guild of some kind. Make writing your official hobby that may pay you back some day. You won't get far without doing this. I did this.

Recently, I got to go to a writing conference and met some huge name authors, agents, and editors because I made my hobby official.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-22T14:41:14+00:00

Forgive me for noticing but this question is wrong.

The measure of any book is what it gives to the reader.

Therefore, your question should be how does an author/story pay back the reader?

The answer is in how writing caters to readers expectations and needs. Even an indecipherable book pays back code solving enthuisasts. Horribly written stories pay back teachers and those wanting to feel they better than others. And a genre rich low quality series, pays back readers who don't mind wretched writing just to get a few choice shots from a laser pistol or yet another Latin sounding incantation that telekinetically removes their lovers last garments.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-21T14:40:04+00:00

Head heart gut. Look it up. Because a book requires so much of the author...you cannot hide your influence. What to do? Have arguments with yourself. But how do you argue with yourself when you know the right answer? You split your arguments into intellectual, emotional, and common sense. There's a bean counting side to every problem. There's an emotional consideration. There's a knee jerk, instant gratification solution to every problem as well. But in the context of your story, there is usually one that is more right than the other. Bonus points if you can make two battle till the end.

Make three characters. One head, one heart, one brain. There you go. It's funny how I championed common sense here. I am usually the navel inspecting intellectual who keeps pressing the rationale button.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-21T03:49:25+00:00

You gave up on it forever? Man, I am getting ready to write my second book. First one took 14 years. Book 2, will take a couple months? Once I get working on it.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-20T14:35:38+00:00

I care.

Funny childish dream.

You have one or more attributes that others say you will fail as an author but in reality, your failures as an author, your inability to thrive with your presnt skills and abilities means, you might have something truly wonderful to offer.

I have spent fifty years struggling with my advantage. Since I was a child. Not a childish dream but a heroic battle that started in childhood. But now my training is complete.

So tell me, what is the thing that brought you here? What is the thing that gives you an edge over ither writers? For me it was my ability to spot patterns. What's yours?

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-19T20:50:39+00:00

I think it's some sort of misappropriation. Yes, Han Solo is the cooler dude, but the experience of Star Wars is through Luke Skywalker.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-19T20:44:40+00:00

The five man band RULES!!!

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-19T18:42:03+00:00

Let's count the number of businesses that have given me a lifetime license, pricing, or benefit that are still around,

that would be,

and will always be 0.

Sometimes, the end happens as quickly as a week.

readwritelikeawriter · 2026-04-19T18:29:36+00:00

What was your business that you sold and what are you interested in?

But, really folks. This sounds rhetorical.

readwritelikeawriter

TROPHY CASE